New York City Testing 300 Square Foot Apartments

Mayor Bloomberg launched a contest Monday to stir development of teeny-tiny apartments — called micro units — for young singles willing to cram themselves into shoebox-sized digs.

The new closetlike flats will be just 275 to 300 square feet — larger than a jail cell but smaller than a mobile home — and will have special permission to ignore city rules requiring newly built apartments to exceed 400 square feet.

“The city’s demographics have changed,” Bloomberg said. “It used to be the average household was a family, a couple of adults and some children.”